Uber Announces Shiny New Toy in Wake of Twitter Controversy

Would you #DeleteUber if it had flying cars?

By Kirk Miller

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In timing that’s most certainly a coincidence and not distracting at all from world events, Uber just announced that longtime NASA engineer Mark Moore will head up its flying car division. As the director of engineering for aviation, he’ll be in charge of the ride-share service’s Elevate program, an air taxi service targeting commuters.

The man has chops. As Bloomberg News noted, Moore’s research on VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) vehicles actually inspired Google co-founder Larry Page to invest in two flying car startups.

In other news, Uber announced a major expansion of UberHIRE, a service that allows passengers to book a private chauffeur for the day. The service will now encompass several cities in India. Expect more flashy announcements in the coming weeks, or at least until the company gets its IPO back on track.